Decorating Type

I love Christmas! And I am beyond excited to decorate our little apartment for the holidays. Although, I will say that the whole red and green thing is getting a little overplayed. It's nice, but I want something more original.

Enter, TransitDesign.

Christmas decorations and awesome typography. Who could ask for more?

Either one of these would look stunning next to my tree. I wonder if they make typography based ornaments. Now there is a thought. A whole type tree! It would be wonderful.
 
{image cred: TransitDesign via Etsy}
 
Punctuate away,
 
Jessie-Lee

If I Could, I Would

...totally rock this outfit for New Years Eve. Yup, I have officially eaten a Thanksgiving dinner. So, now I can feel shameless about focusing on the holidays. Case in point, New Years. I finally get to go to a fancy-shmancy par-tay with my favorite friends and the Hub's this year. Needless to say, I need to look good.

Now, I would buy this outfit if I could afford it.

But I can't, so I won't. A girl can dream. 

{image cred: Modcloth: here and here}

Punctuate away, 

Jessie-Lee

P.S. Happy Turkey Day to my U.S. readers. Hopefully you have as many things to be thankful for as I do! Life truly is wonderful. 

Total Gorgeousness

Can we discuss this for just a moment?

I am in love with this Vogue editorial featuring Kirsten Dunst from September '06.

{image cred: MG Designs Flickr originally spotted on D E S I G N L O V E F E S T}

Punctuate away,

Jessie-Lee



Tea Time

So as you may or may not have noticed the blogosphere has been blowing up calendars and Christmas cards. Not to add fuel to the fire, but they are a little hard to ignore and I am going to have to show you my favorites.

Now, I am not going to show you a million plain old paper calendars. I have high standards when it comes to this stuff. Which, is why I am showing you my favorite Etsy tea towel calendars. Mainly because the sheer concept is cooler than their paper cousins. And it reminds me of my Mom-Mom. I swear she used to have a ton of these, one in particular from like 20 years before I was born that was adorned with cardinals. But any-who, here are some options for the big 20-11. Jeez, that makes me feel old. Into the new decade we go.

avrilloreti

brookewoolley

CampyStudios

CampyStudios

1canoe2

claudiagpearson

iota1617

cicadastudio

I have to admit, the first and last are my favorites. I might have to purchase one to hang up in the apartment. No offense Mom, but these are way cooler than the Labrador desk calendars you usually provide me with at Christmas. Give these a go? Ok, great!

Love it or hate it? I could get the hate thing, I would miss the brand new picture every month. Not going to lie, that is exciting. 

Any calendars you guys care to share?

{image cred: links under their respective images}

Punctuate away, 

Jessie-Lee

Classic Black

Yesterday I noticed downtown Lynchburg was festively adorned with Christmas wreaths. A little early, no? But the holidays have been on my brain all day! All the glitz, glamour, and get togethers that the holiday's bring has got me in the mood for festive attire.

I found these. And I love them. Even though they were not created with one ounce of practicality. It is all about the glamour, dahling!

Yeah, these take the LBD to a whole new level. 

{image cred: BCBGMAXAZRIA}

Punctuate away, 

Jessie-Lee

Not Into It

OK, pretty much every morning I walk into my friendly neighborhood Starbucks and while I wait, ever so patiently, for the newest barista to ring me up I take notice to the album art up near the register.

This particular album has been driving me nuts for about two weeks now.

Today I just couldn't take it anymore. I coyly placed this album behind the rest and then my typography nerves rested a little easier.

Now, hear me out. I adore Miss. Swift. This is in no way an attack on her upbeat crazy catchy tunes, or her crystal clear persona. This is a "there is your sign" moment for these designers.

I love the back, the textures are executed beautifully and I envy their mad skills here. The front, I have issues with. Miss. Swift has been rocking that curly cue logo for quite some time now. It is pretty much iconic as far as country music goes these days. The logo stands. So why in the WORLD would you pair that logo with yet another, hand drawn font. Kill me. I can't take it. My eyes are literally having a wtf moment. They have no idea where to go. So today, I allowed my eyes to rest, and politely put the album behind a more appealing one. 

Miss. Swift, great album, love the songs. Next time, make sure your design team has conflicting aesthetics. Your album artwork will be better for it.

I feel much better now.

{image cred: The ST8MNT Blog}

Punctuate away,

Jessie-Lee

Skills

I am going for the short, sweet and simple route today.

I am digging these illustrator skills. It is a back to basics moment. And it looks good.

Check out the Etsy shop here. 

This is what it all means:

"During the Great Depression, U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt employed artists across the country through the Works Progress Administration. The WPA and its subordinate projects such as the Federal Theatre Project and Federal Arts Project embarked on a campaign of education, entertainment and art that brought the arts to people ways unprecedented in America, before and since." -Roosevelvet

Plain and simple. I like the prints. I am into the inspiration. I want to research it some more. Find anything? Drop me a line. 

Now to finish out this beyond exhausting day. 

{image cred: Roosevelvet}

Punctuate away, 

Jessie-Lee

I'm Back

Wow, has it been a crazy few weeks at work! Unfortunately for you all, I have been inundated with my 9-5. This is not by my own choice, trust me. The world of life insurance apparently can't move forward without me coming home completely exhausted. I hope that you lovely readers can accept my apologies for taking an unplanned week off of blogging. Hopefully this will not be happening again without warning or at least some prepared posts. (P.S. if anyone would like to guest blog, drop me a line!)

So, that brings me to today's post!

After finally catching up on my blog reading (it was like whoa!) I was able to take some time and explore Etsy a bit. You would be quite surprised how much seven days off Etsy will really leave you feeling like a slacker. It sounds crazy, but not paying attention to the blogosphere for a week is like not calling my Mom for a month! I had no idea what was going on!

Back to the juice of this story. Shelley Kommers. Oiseaux Noir. Awesome. Let's get strait to the images.

I am not going to lie, I am a sucker for an awesome collage. There is something really special about mixed media, layers and images that somehow correspond to the artist, but only you can understand once they are all brought together. They are so tactile. And I want them on my wall. I am really drawn to the round ones here, the collage has no limits but the circle gives it that limit. I find it entirely necessary. Just like four of them kind of are for my walls. 

Be sure to check out her personal website and her Etsy shop, where you can buy these lovelies. 

{image cred: Shelley Kommers}

Punctuate away, 

Jessie-Lee

What A Treat

So, plans change. I was going to tell you how excited I was about holiday cups debuting at Starbucks, but then I decided to do you one better. Actually, Google did. Google is my hero today, hand down.

Johanna Basford is a spectacle that was unknown to me until this morning. I am now obsessed with her work, and I am sure you will be too after you see these amazing images. Ms. Basford is an old school illustrator. Yep, she uses pencils and pens. Ink, graphite and paper, that is all there is to it people.

"I love the tactile nature of the materials I use and the joy of smudgy fingerprints. For me, computer generated work lacks soul and depth of character - hand drawing captures a sense of energy and charm which no pixel can ever replicate." --Johanna Basford

She clearly has a mantra, and it works for her.

This past September she caught the holiday cheer bug. (I know, a little early but hey I was going to tell you all about mine today until I found this.) Instead of Christmas shopping she used her powers of loveliness for a better purpose. This is how she envisioned the Starbucks Christmas cup, and let me say I am no longer excited about the coffee cup I am holding in my hand.



And because she goes above and beyond, here are some more lovely creations for all seasons:

I mean really, these are astounding. These cups are just plain beautiful. Starbucks needs to notice, and then commission this girl because I want to drink my lattes from a cup like these.



Besides these cups Johanna Basford sells amazing prints. I really could get lost in this pen and ink world. Check out her website and her blog, she posts her own work on a regular basis. Swoonworthy, that is all there is to it.

{image cred: Johanna Basford via her blog}

Punctuate away,

Jessie-Lee

Stamp It

I have been wanting to get a return address stamp for quite some time now. My only problem (besides getting the Hub's to front the money for something he deems "pointless") is I can't decide exactly which one to get. It just seems so life altering, like whatever I pick will define our mail. I have been pondering this since before our wedding this past May. I just can't pick one. So I need your help.

I have narrowed my selections down to two retailers. So, let's see what we are working with.

From Paper Source:

From Note Trunk:



See what I mean? The decision making is nearly impossible, there are simply too many choices. I just can't decide. I really like the ones that identify the last name while still including room for both first names. It just seems a bit more personal to me. But, then again I want something distinctive. I want you to get a letter in the mail from me and say to yourself, "this envelope's got style!" Yup, I think I am reaching just a little too high. Help.

{image source: Paper Source and Note Trunk via Etsy}

Punctuate away,

Jessie-Lee